Section: Special sections

John Deere is notorious for arguing that farmers who buy its tractors actually ”license” them because Deere still owns the copyright to the tractors` software; in 2015, the U.S. Copyright Office affirmed that farmers were allowed to jailbreak their tractors to effect repairs and modifications, according to the Boing Boing group blog on technology...

Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Viacheslav Kyrylenko says that the European Broadcasting Union, which is the organizer of the Eurovision Song Contest, must take into account that the broadcast of the Russian entrant Julia Samoilova`s performance by Ukrainian TV channels is a violation of Ukrainian laws. ”The broadcast of Samoilova`s performance...

The Kremlin is calling on Ukraine to review its entry ban on Russia`s singer who planned to participate in this year`s Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Yulia Samoilova, according to Russian news agency TASS. ”Certainly, the Ukrainian side`s decision seriously devalues the upcoming contest and this is a blow to Eurovision`s image,” Russian...

The authorities of the so-called ”Luhansk People`s Republic” (”LPR”) have received permission to block shipments of products from the ”nationalized” Ukrainian enterprises if they do not pay taxes to the budget of the ”LPR,” according to Information Resistance, a non-governmental project on information security. ”On this occasion, the leadership...

Russia`s force in Syria has suffered losses since late January more than three times higher than the official toll, according to evidence gathered by Reuters, a tally that shows the fight in Syria is tougher and more costly than the Kremlin has disclosed. Eighteen Russian citizens fighting alongside Moscow`s allies, the Syrian government forces,...

The UK Mission to the United Nations Geneva has pointed out to an ”under-reported facet” of violations of human rights, including conflict-related sexual violence, in Russia-occupied Donbas. ”The UK welcomes the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) thematic report into conflict-related sexual violence, which...

The so-called ”Donetsk People`s Republic” (”DPR”) has opened an unofficial office in Greece on Tuesday, according to the Russian news agency TASS. ”It is the third such center opened in European Union states,” so-called head of the ”DPR” representation center in Greece and a co-organizer of Greece`s Safe Donbas society Andreas Zaferis said at an...

Adviser to the SBU chief Yuriy Tandit claims that 3,136 Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian hostages have been released or tracked since Russia has unleashed aggression in Donbas. ”An important figure: I`m ben talking about this for the first time – 3,136 people were released or spotted, 416 people are reported missing. We must also remember...

The SBU Security Service of Ukraine has banned Eurovision 2017 participant from Russia Yulia Samoilova from entering Ukraine. ”The Security Service of Ukraine has put Russian citizen Yulia Samoilova on Ukraine`s stop list for a period of three years,” SBU press secretary Olena Hitlyanska wrote on Facebook. The decision was made on the basis of...

Director of the U.S. National Security Agency (NAS), Admiral Mike Rogers says Russia has no intention to return Crimea back to Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian language service of Voice of America (VOA). Answering a question whether Russia has intentions to return Crimea, he told a congressional panel on Monday, March 20: ”They have publicly...